How to discern False Prophet..

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com. That's cornerstonerbc.com. Brothers and sisters, let us go to 1 John chapter 4. We're going to be going into chapter number 4.

And as I said, and as you can hear just from the title of this sermon, I want us to consider how to respond to the spirit of the Antichrist that operates in false teachers or in false believers or in false prophets which is the language that the apostle uses here in this in these six verses of chapter four as you can see this is a at least to me it is a very complex topic so i hope that the spirit of the lord will give us the light that is needed so that there will be any nourishment to your soul gaining understanding according to the scriptures, and that we will be able to discern what the Spirit of God has for us with these six verses, what it was intended for the initial audience of these six verses, and that we are able to bring it and apply it to us in a clear and in a good way. I'm going to invite you to read verses 23 in chapter 3 all the way to chapter 4 verse 6. But before we read that, I'm going to bring you to read a parallel passage that is found in 2 Peter chapter 2. So we're going to read two passages, 2 Peter chapter 2 verse 1 through 3, and then we're going to be reading 1 John chapter 3 verse 23 through chapter 4. So let us go to chapter 2 in 2 Peter.

This is the word of the Lord. I'm reading 2 Peter 2, verse 1 through 3. Here, the apostle Peter is also going to speak about this truth of false prophets or false teachers. This is the apostle Peter, 2 Peter 2, verse 1. But false prophets, speaking of the Old Testament, but false prophets also arose among the people.

just as there will be false teachers among you who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the law or the master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. And many will follow their sensuality or their destructive ways. Many will follow their sensuality. And because of them, the way of truth will be blasphemed. And in their greed, they will exploit you with false words.

Their condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep." Speaking of those false teachers of the New Testament, now let us come to 1 John and let us hear and read what the Apostle John says to us in these verses, verses 1 through 6 in chapter 4. But as I said, let me just read from verse 23 in chapter 3. This is the word of God from 1 John. And this is His commandment, that we believe in the name of His Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as He commanded us.

Whoever keeps His commandments abides in Him, or in God, and He in Him. And by this, we know that He, that is God, abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us. Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God. For many false prophets have gone out into the world. By these you know the Spirit of God.

Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God. And every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already. Little children, you are from God and have overcome them. For he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.

They are from the world. Therefore they speak from the world and the world listens to them. We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us. Whoever is not from God does not listen to us.

By this we know the spirit of truth. Pay attention to that. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error. Amen. This is the word of the Lord.

I feel that I should pray once again, but we have prayed already. So let us move ahead with what the Lord has for us. My dear brother and sister, as I said, we are going to be addressing this idea of how to respond to the spirit of the Antichrist that is operating in false teachers or in false prophets. And the place of destination where I'm going to take you is this, that the way that we respond, that the way that we know, the way that we discern the spirit of the Antichrist that is operating in false teachers or false believers or false prophets, it is first through the authority of the Scriptures Second, by knowing the biblical Christ. And third, by knowing what Christ does in the person whom he saves.

This is the destination to where I'm going to take you through this passage and the truths of 1 John. That the way that we respond to the spirit of the Antichrist that operates in false believers is through the authority of the scriptures, by understanding the biblical Jesus Christ, the one who is God men who came in the flesh, and thirdly, understanding what this Jesus Christ does in the believer. This is the point of destination, and I'm going to try to build the argument from what we have in front of us, but that is where we're going now. You can see that there is a complexity in what I have just said, because in the six verses that we have in front of us, the scriptures are not mentioned. Second, the biblical Christ is not mentioned there.

And the idea of the life of the believer is not directly mentioned in those six verses. So I want to show you, not only from the six verses, but from 1 John, that what the apostle has in mind for us today is this, that we respond to the spirit of the Antichrist that is operating in false prophets by understanding the authority of the scriptures, understanding the biblical Jesus Christ that is portrayed and explained in the scriptures, and thirdly, how biblical salvation operates. In other words, that which Jesus Christ does in the believer. And that's why I wanted us to read those two passages, and even come from verse 23. Because last week, when I was explaining what I was preaching from this pulpit, my intention was to show you this glorious doctrine of communion with God the Father.

If you remember what I said is that the main intention of the Apostle John in verse 23 and 24 is communion with God the Father. We as Christians can have communion with God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. That communion with God the Father that we have in verse 23 and 24, the apostle has told us there is contingent upon the fulfillment of a commandment. That is that we believe in the name of his son and that we love the brother. Whoever keeps his commandment, the apostle says, then he abides in him and he abides in him.

Oh God, the father abides in him and the Christian abides in the father. Then the apostle concludes verse 24 with this very important statement. How do we know that we are abiding in the father? The Apostle gives us that answer in the last sentence of verse 24. by the Spirit whom He has given us."

The apostle tells us that the way that I know that I'm a child of God is by the testimony of the Holy Spirit that tells me that I am a child of God. That the way that I know that the Father and I have a relationship of communion is by the Holy Spirit that within me testifies that I'm a child of God, so I can cry Abba Father, Galatians chapter 4 and Romans chapter 8. When the apostle now has mentioned that the Spirit of God is the one that is to speak to me about my belonging to the Father, what comes into the mind of the apostle is, how can my little children then discern? that the spirit that is speaking to them is the spirit of God and it's not any other spirit. Because that thought comes into the mind of John, then now he comes to speak about how to discern between the spirit of God and then the spirit of the one who is not God, but rather the Antichrist.

This is what we have in front of us. The apostle is going to give that answer to the little children. How to respond, how to discern if you're hearing from the Spirit of God or you're being confused by the spirit of the Antichrist that is trying to bring you away from the Lord Jesus Christ. This is a very important topic. Because the presence of false teachers, of false prophets, was not only real in the early church, but we have the testimony of the scriptures as we read it in 2 Peter chapter 2, that there is a divine promise.

That just as there was false teachers among the people of Israel, There will be false teachers or false prophets among the people of the Lord. So the passage that we have in front of us is not only important for the early church when they received it, but it's important for all generations of Christians because the scripture clearly tells us from the authority of God the spirit that just as there was false prophets in the old covenant there will be false teachers among the church this is not something that can be a probability or perhaps there may be false teachers or false prophets among you brothers and sisters but rather 2nd peter chapter 2 verse 1 says that there will be false prophets among the context of the church and that these false prophets will bring into the context of the church destructive heresies, that will bring upon themselves swift destruction, that these false prophets, as Jude will say in Jude chapter 1, they have been already appointed to be within the context of the local church, or the context of the church in general. One may ask oneself the question, why would God allow that there will be false teachers and false prophets in the context of the church. God who is sovereign above all things could protect the church and not allow any false teacher or any false prophet to be in the context of the church. Why would God allow such a thing to happen?

Two reasons the scripture gives us. First, because these false teachers have already been appointed with this purpose of condemnation and destruction. These are clouds without water. You remember Jude? These are clouds without waters for whom this blackness of judgment has already been reserved.

That's why Jude writes. He wanted to write about our common salvation. You remember Jude chapter 1 verse 3 and onwards? I wanted to write about our common salvation, but I found it necessary to write to you, exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once were all delivered to the saints. Why?

For certain men have crept into the church unnoticed, unaware. Men, people who were long ago marked out for this condemnation. The reason why God allows false teachers or false prophets within the context of the church is because he has a reserved judgment for those false teachers that come and try to confuse and try to affect the bride of his son, Jesus Christ. Imagine the punishment, brethren. Imagine the punishment for the false teacher and for the false believer.

The one that is trying to confuse the bride of the son of the father, the one who created the heavens and the earth, and the one that is powerful and can go to every single place. There's a judgment that is reserved for those false teachers and false prophets. But secondly, and very importantly, it is because God wants to purify his church. It is necessary that there will be factions and divisions among you, so that those who are genuine will be proved. It is necessary that there will be conflicts among you, so that those who are genuine will be tested to be genuine," says the apostle.

Why? Because the Lord wants to test and wants to prove those of the church. Because, I don't know if you paid attention to 2 Peter chapter 2 verse 2, There we are also given another promise, and that is the promise that many will follow the destructive ways of those false teachers, brethren. Just as we have in the Scriptures the promise that there will be false teachers and false prophets in the context of the Church, We also have the promise in 2 Peter 2 verse 2, that there will be many who will follow the destructive ways of these false teachers and false prophets. With certainty, there will be.

Not perhaps, not there is a chance, but rather with the authority of God through Peter it says, there will be many. who will follow the destructive ways of these false teachers. And because those follow the ways of those false teachers, the way of the truth that is Christianity will be blasphemed. Many will follow these false teachers. And pay attention to the amount of those who will follow these false teachers.

Not a few. Not some, but Peter says, many will follow the ways of those false teachers. The Lord Jesus Christ in Matthew chapter 7, He says that be aware of false prophets because they come like, like, you know, sheep, like wolves with sheep clothing, right? That from within they are revenous or poisonous is the way that I understand that word. And then He says that we shall know them by their fruits, speaking directly not only of general Christians, but speaking more precisely about false prophets and false teachers, that we will know them by their fruits.

And I believe, my dear brother and sister, that here in 1 John chapter 4, We have the testimony of John of applying what the Lord Jesus Christ said in Matthew chapter 7. The apostle is going to tell us, you shall know them by their fruit. You may know them, you will know them by the fruit of what they believe and what they preach. Hence, the authority of the Scriptures is going to be of vital importance for us. As I said, my dear brother and sister, this is a very complex topic, but one that I think is very important for the context of our church and for Christians in general.

So, I hope that the Lord will give us the light that is needed for us to comprehend the message of these six verses, because I'm not sure if your experience by or through listening sermons in 1 John 4.16 is the same like mine, but certainly you have seen all type of explanations in which present issues of the church are brought into these six verses trying to explain the passage based on situations that we currently live as a church. And let me tell you, my dear brother and sister, that the application not only of this passage, but any passage of the Scripture should always start from the text, what it meant to the initial audience, and only from there we bring any application to our current and contemporary life. Any other attempt to try to understand any current issue into the text is no other thing than just simply departing from the meaning of what the Spirit of God has for His people through the writing of the letters. There are three things that I want us to do with these verses that we have in front of us.

As I said, I want us to consider how to discern or how to respond to the spirit of the Antichrist that operates in false teachers and in false prophets. First, what I want us to do is that I want us to consider the context of instruction that the Apostle is going to give us. The context. We cannot understand the meaning of these six verses if we do not understand the context. And when I say context, I'm talking about 1 John.

I want us to consider or understand the spiritual context of this passage so that we will be able to understand it. I think that we're going to spend a vast amount of time in that first point. And then I want us to move into the content of the instruction. In other words, that which the apostle tells us to do, which is very clear in verse 1. He says, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirit.

This is everything that the apostle says. Do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits. That is the content of the instruction that He's given us. First, we need to understand the context, the spiritual context of the commandment. And second, we will go into the content of the instruction that the Apostle has given us.

And then finally, if the Lord allows us and gives us the energy and clarity, which I'm hoping that He does, We're going to speak about this promise that we have specifically in verse 4. It's a promise within the instruction. The apostle says, little children, you are from God and have overcome them. Why? For he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.

The way that we are going to tackle this passage, and I hope that the Lord gives us clarity, is by seeing the spiritual context, then moving into the content of destruction, and then moving into this promise. Let us start, then, first of all, with the spiritual context of this passage. Now, my dear brother and sister, when you read 1 John, from the very beginning until the end, from chapter 1 until chapter 5, then you will realize, if you read it carefully, and you study it, and you memorize certain portions of the book, you will realize that for John, he has this view of reality in which there are two systems. The system of God, and the system of Satan. He makes that very clear in the end of the book, if you go to 1 John 5, verse 19, in which he's going to present us this duality of existence.

In verse 19, he says, we know that we are from God, and that is the first system, the system of God. More precisely, God the Father. He says, we know that we are from God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one, that is Satan. Be with me here, my dear brother and sister. For John, this whole book is going to be written under the reality of the existence of these two systems, the system of God and the system of Satan.

God, the father, is the one that rules this system, and he is the father of the children who belong to this system of God. This other system is going to be the system of the world for John. The system of the world is the one that is controlled by Satan. Throughout this letter, the apostle is going to use contrasting elements to speak about this system of God the Father against this system of Satan, which is the world. If you go to the beginning of the letter very early in the letter the apostle will start to make use of this contrast of the system of God and the system of Satan if you go to verse 5 of chapter 1 it says this is the message that we have heard from him and proclaim to you you remember that verse verse 5 in chapter 1 here he comes that God the father in this case is light and it's no darkness in him at all so here we have the first contrast in the mind of the apostle that this system of god and satan is contrasted with god being light there is no darkness at all this darkness if someone is walking in the light while they are practicing or if someone says better that they have fellowship with god who is light while they're walking in darkness what does the apostle says they are Liars.

Because no one who is walking in darkness can have fellowship with the light. The first contrast to us is given. God is the God of light. Satan is the God of darkness, which is the system of the world. In chapter 2, the Apostle will develop this idea by including more practical elements for the life of the Church, for the life of the Christians, now the concept of love and hate.

God the Father is the one who loves. Hate is antithetical to that which God gives us. So if you go to 1 John 2, in verse 9, you will see it. 1 John 2, verse 9. It says, whoever says he's in the light, remember from chapter one, whoever says that he's in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness.

Whoever loves his brother abides in the light and in him there is no cause for stumbling. Brethren, do you see that right? Then it starts this system of God. And then this system of Satan, the world. This system, God is light and in him is not darkness at all.

Satan is the one that rules the world. He is darkness. Then he brings that to apply to the Christian. Light is love. God is the God of love who has light and loves.

The one who is in darkness hates and hence cannot be in the light. The apostle continues to develop this dualistic view of what he's trying to tell us in verse 15 when he says of chapter two, the world or the things in the world if anyone loves the world the love of the father is not in him do you see that then once again we have those two systems the system of the father that is the system of love whoever has the love of the father does not love the world because the world lies under the power of Satan, that is the other system. The apostle continues to develop this idea even to the point of speaking that those who are in the kingdom of God the Father are righteous and you cannot say that you belong to the system of God the Father if you are unrighteous. That is what he says in verse 8. Pay attention of chapter 3.

Chapter 3 verse 8. Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the Devil. Whoever makes a practice of unrighteousness, in other words, belongs to the system of the world or the system of the devil. Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. Then if you go to verse 9, then you have the contrast.

It says, No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God's seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God. Once again, the Apostle has this dualistic system of the system of God and the system of darkness. The system of God is the children of God who are light and who love and who practice righteousness. This system of Satan, the world, is a system of darkness, is a system of hate, and it's a system of practice of unrighteousness. The apostle now continues, and in chapter four, now he's going to introduce us to, more precisely, because he's done it before, but the apostle is going to introduce us to another contrast, and that contrast is given in the last clause of verse six.

The kingdom of God the Father is the kingdom of truth, and the kingdom of Satan in the world is the kingdom of error. Verse six, it says, We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us. Whoever is not from God does not listen to us. Pay attention.

By this we know the spirit of truth, right, brother, and the spirit of error. Now the apostle has introduced another category from these two perspectives. God, who is the one who rules in his kingdom to his people, is truth. And Satan who rules the world is the one who is in error. Consistent with what John says in his gospel that Satan is the father of?

Lies. OK, so you have that, brethren, right? So we have truth from God, and then we have the error or lies from Satan. But the intention of the apostle is not so much to present to us these two categories of truth and error, but rather introduce to us two groups of people. Two groups of people who are going to be the proclaimers either of error or the proclaimers of truth.

The apostle is going to introduce and is going to present to us two groups of people. Once again, and I'm repeating because I'm building a lot of lines upon this, one group that are the proclaimers of error, and one group that is the proclaimers of truth. Those two groups are given to us in verse 5 and 6. If you pay careful attention, each one of those two verses will start with different pronouns. Verse 5 speaks about they, and verse 6 speaks about We, those two verses are very important because these are going to tell us what are those two groups, the group that belongs to the team of God, if you want to the kingdom of God, truth and the group that belongs to Satan, his kingdom, the world.

That is the group of error. The characteristic of these two groups is that they are proclaimers, that they are preachers, that they are the ones who speak words. The first one is given to us in verse five. They are now. I hope that you can see now after I said all of those things.

They are from the world. Therefore, they speak from the world and the world listens to them. These are the proclaimers, this is the group of people that speak error, and they are under Satan in the system of the world, and these are false teachers, the false teachers that he has mentioned in verse 1 and 2. False teachers, that they are of the world, they speak of the world, and those who are of the world listen to them because they come from the world. The question now that we need to ask ourselves in verse 6 is, who is the we?

Who is the we when he says we are from God? Whoever knows God listens to us. Whoever is not from God does not listen to us. And we could give two answers to that. The first one is that that we is actually all Christians.

That all Christians, because they are children of God, we all hear from God, and because we are from God, we speak the things of God. And that would be something that is correct, because all children of God listen from God and receive the word from God. But there's something very important there. that the Apostle makes a distinction between we and those who listen. Did you pay attention to verse 6?

It says, we are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us. In other words, whoever is a child of God listens to us. So the Apostle is not making a distinction between we are children of God and you are not, but rather he's saying, among us, children of God, When we speak, the children of God will listen to us. So the question is, who is the we?

And I'm going to submit to you that John refers there to the apostles. The apostles is the group of people that are the proclaimers of the truth of the kingdom of God. And false prophets are the group of people that are the proclaimers of the error of the kingdom of Satan that is the world. We have false teachers, false prophets, and then we have the apostles. Now, the reason why I know that is because the apostle has been very careful in the way that he started the letter.

If you go to 1 John 1, then you will realize that when the apostle refers to himself as we, he is giving characteristics of the 12 apostles that were with the Lord. If you go to 1 John 1, it says, that which was from the beginning. Now pay attention, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with your hands concerning the word of life. The light was made manifest, and we have seen it and testified to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to me, to us. The apostle is giving characteristics of the 12 apostles.

Face-to-face fellowship. They saw the Lord, they touched the Lord, they handled the Lord. So the apostle here is speaking about the apostles as the proclaimers of truth from God the Father and false prophets as the proclaimers of error when it comes to the system of the world. That is the spiritual context that will help us understand what the Apostle tells us there. Only from understanding this system that the Apostle has in mind and how he arrives into chapter 4 will allow us to comprehend the principle of what he says so that we can accurately bring it to apply to us 2,000 years after that.

There's a few observations that we now need to make of the text. The first one, my dear brother and sister, is that this group of proclaimers of error are false teachers or false prophets. The Apostle John gives us a couple of interesting characteristics about these false prophets. One, that we have already even seen from 2 Peter 2, is that these people are going to be among the people of God. that they are not outside, that they are not just very far away, but rather they are within the context of people.

You remember in verse 18 of chapter 2, children, it is the last hour. And as you have heard, the Antichrist is coming. So now many Antichrists have come. Therefore, we know that is the last hour. Now it says, they went out from us.

but they were not of us. For if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might be complained that they all are not of us." While many Christians use that verse 19 to apply to all Christians, the truth is that from the context the apostle is speaking about those antichrists of those teachers that were within the context of the church and they went out into the world, they went out because they were not part of the congregation. But now, pay attention to a characteristic that is very important that we will pay attention to, that is in verse 26 of chapter 2.

Come with me to chapter 2, verse 26. The apostle is going to give us, after he has spoken in chapter 2 about these false teachers, he says in verse 26, I write these things to you about those who are trying to deceive you. Brethren, a false prophet, a false teacher, is not only someone that is mistaken about a particular doctrine. A false teacher is not someone that got it wrong about a particular aspect of doctrine and now they are teaching from that. But rather a false teacher, a false prophet, is someone that is intentionally now trying to deceive the people of God.

2 Peter they will bring in destructive heresies. That's why when you go to 2nd John, which is the book also of the Apostle John, if you go there, please, there is a parallel passage that is going to give us more insight into this deceitfulness of false teachers and false prophets. If you go to 2nd John in verse 7, it says, using exactly the same language and is the same author, It says, For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not confess the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh. Such a one is a deceiver and the Antichrist. Pay attention to verse 8.

Watch yourself so that you may not lose what you or we have worked for, but you may win a full reward. Brethren, false teachers and false prophets is not something minor that we are not to pay attention to. But rather, it says, watch yourselves so that you may not lose what we have worked for, but may win a full reward. False prophets or false teachers within the context of the church is a very serious thing. Why is it a serious thing?

2 Peter 2, verse 2, because many will follow their destructive ways. Many will follow. Brethren, think about a quantitative view of that. Put all of your brothers and sisters before you, in front of you, all those people that you have known that they are Christians. And the Scripture says, we hope not from that group, but in general from Christians, that many will follow their destructive ways.

That these deceptive people that are trying to deceive Christians will actually gain for themselves a follow-up. People will follow them, and they will come after the teachings and after the doctrines. So this is a very serious matter. Second observation that I want us to see from the text. Return, please, to 1 John chapter 4.

Please note, and perhaps this is going to be one of the most important things that I'm going to say because the time has passed and I have not made it very, you know, into my sermon. But let me just simply say this, my dear brother and sister. The spiritual battle between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of Satan, which is the world, please pay careful attention. That is a spiritual battle about the truth. It is not about spiritual manifestations and things and emotions, but rather when you take the kingdom of God, the Father, and you take the kingdom of Satan and the fight or the war that exists between these two, it is a fight of truth.

That is that the way that we grow and are strong in this battle, it is not by emotions, or it's not by experiences, or it's not by just simply abstract things, but it's by the continual growth in the truth that God has given to us. We don't have the time now to do it, but if you go to Ephesians chapter 6, and then you will see the armor of God that we as Christians have to put on. You remember that, right? Every single element is related to the truth that the Christians should have faith. It is related to the truth.

Even it says that we should put the belt of truth, right? It says that the chest of righteousness, the shield of faith, all of these items, all of these things, all of these attributes, these characteristics are related to truth. Because our spiritual battle goes through the mind, into the soul, in the heart, and is about truth. Satan is the father of Lies he wants to bring lies into the mind of the Christians and into the mind of the people because the spiritual battle is one of truth and That was the mission of the Apostles Now, I said to you that I was going to take you to the point of the Scriptures. If you pay careful attention to how the Apostle writes this passage, you will realize that that which the false teachers do, and that which the Apostles do according to the Apostle in verses 5 and 6, is speak.

You see, pay attention to verse 5, chapter 4, it says, they are from the world, speaking of the false teachers, therefore they speak. from the world and the world listens to them. We, I have said to you that this we is the apostles, we are from God and whoever knows God listens to us. Whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error."

Now, brethren, I'm not sure that I should do this, but now I'm doing it, so I'm going to continue with this. Brethren, Here we have clearly, in these two verses, verses 5 and 6, that that way in which false teachers or false prophets and apostles communicated was primarily through the proclamation of the word of the Lord. We don't have the scriptures in these six verses that we have here. We don't have the written word. And that is very precise and is very according to the situation of the early church, because the way that the apostles taught in the very beginning of the early church was through the proclamation and the oral tradition of the apostles.

You remember when we were told in Acts 4 that they were going from house to house teaching. And that is, of course, the way that the apostles were spreading their teachings, because the writings of the Scripture were not quite ready at that point. So most of the teachings of the apostles were done through the preaching of the Word and the oral tradition of the apostles. You would be surprised, perhaps, some of you, to know that the first letter that was written, perhaps was written many years after the ministry of the apostles. So most of the teaching that the apostles did was through the preaching and oral tradition.

Our brothers and sisters in the early church, they received primarily the word of God through the oral tradition that will come either directly from the apostles, or then this oral tradition will go to churches and they will pass it from one to another, or if there was a letter, that's why the scripture says, go and read this letter from this church to that church. Why? Because most of the teaching of the apostles was done through oral proclamation of the doctrine that the Spirit had given them. Now, I'm going to submit to you that in the New Testament, and this is one of the big claims that I would want us just to see and to consider, because this is going to protect us in our sola scriptura, this is going to protect us from the Catholic errors of tradition and apostolic succession, this is going to protect us from the errors of excessive charismatic practices, is what I'm going to say now. Brethren, this took me a lot of time, so please pay attention to this.

I am going to submit to you that from within the scriptures we can see an organic development from the oral tradition of the apostles into the writings of the apostles. I am going to submit to you that from the scriptures we can see an organic development from the oral tradition of the apostles the words that were proclaimed, into the writings of the apostles. And because there has been this organic development from the oral tradition of the apostles into the writings of the apostles, then the words of the apostles for us are not the verbal words that were spoken in the first century, but rather the written words that we have in our hands. Now, all of you, I think that will agree with that statement, but I don't think that all of you will be able, and I'm sorry that I'm saying this, I'm just simply assuming, but I've known you for a while now, I don't think that all of you will be able to give a response from the Scriptures of why we have the Scriptures and we are not to take any other word beyond the Scriptures. So I want us just to see it from the Scriptures, how the oral tradition of the Apostles organically developed into the Scriptures, the New Testament, and this is the standard that we use now to discern false teachers from true teachers, the Apostles.

Come with me, please, to Jude, and I'm going to show you from there, and I hope that I can do this in 15 minutes. So come to Jude, and then you will see something very important there. Go to Jude, please. Jude is going to give us an exhortation that is very important about the words of the apostle. It says in verse 17 of Jude, but you must remember, beloved, they which word do you have there?

You must remember, beloved, they The oracle, some of you may have the words, some of you may have the predictions of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ. Literally he's referring there to the oral words that the apostles proclaim. They were prophetic in nature, of course. It says, but you must remember, beloved, the predictions of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ. said to you, right?

They said to you, in the last time there will be scoffers following their own godly passions. The apostles, with their mouths and with their teaching, they have forewarned the church that there was going to be false teachers. Now, the apostles were, remember, fighting against this group of false teachers that were present in the context of the early church. We know that because if you come to 2 Thessalonians chapter 2, you may remember that. In 2 Thessalonians chapter 2, come with me please there, 2nd Thessalonians chapter 2, we can see the fight between the heralds or the proclaimers of error and the fight of the proclaimers of truth, the apostles.

If you go to 2nd Thessalonians chapter 2, it says, Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him, We ask you, brothers and sisters, pay attention to this verse, verse two, not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarm, either by a spirit, and I think that this is referring to those who were prophets in the time, those who were saying, I'm speaking on behalf of God, and there were prophets, men and women, either by a spirit, or pay attention, or a spoken word, or a letter seeming to be from us to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. This gives us an insight into the life of the church. Because at that time, when these things were going on, the early church was already being confronted by false teachers that were either writing fake letters on behalf of the apostles, or they were speaking words that were contrary to the words of the apostles, or they were saying that they were prophesying from God, while they were prophesying on behalf of, we know the other one, right? Satan. So there was already this war in the early church between the things that the apostles say, the things that the apostles write, and the traditions of the apostles.

Now I'm going to submit to you that the apostles were aware of that. They were aware that their words, their traditions, and their writings were the word of God because they were the apostles. But they were also aware that the only way that they could leave the truth with the church was not by leaving their traditions, or not by leaving their oracles, or not by leaving another apostle and then succession of apostles that will speak the same words to God, but rather by leaving the scriptures. That even though the scriptures and the words of the apostles, the oracles of the apostles were the word of God, with the coming or the proximity of the death of the apostles, they knew that they had to give the scriptures to the church so that the church would protect themselves from false teachers. I can see, I think that we can see that in 2 Peter, if we return to 2 Peter.

Come with me to 2 Peter, please. 2 Peter. So in 2 Peter, now, we know from the scriptures that Peter was about to die when he was writing this letter. You remember that? I hope that you remember from the letter.

If you go to 2 Peter chapter 1, 2 Peter chapter 1, it says, Therefore, I intend always to remind you of these qualities. Pay attention to this language, because Peter is going to use it in chapter 3 to speak about his writings. Pay attention to this. Therefore, I intend always to remind you of these qualities. Now, imagine yourself, Peter, old.

He's about to die. And he says, therefore, I intend always to remind you of these qualities, though you know them and are established in the truth that you have. Pay attention just to that statement. I know that you already know. I know that you have seen the truth.

I know. I know, brothers and sisters, that you already know. But I want to remind you. I need to remind you, it says. I think it right, as long as I am in the body, in other words, as I'm alive, to stir you up by way of reminder.

Since, oh, why? Why? Because I know that the putting off of my body will be soon. You know what that means, right? It means that he's going to?

die, since I know that the putting off of my body will be soon, as our Lord Jesus Christ made it clear to me. And I will make every effort so that after my departure you may be able at any time to recall these things." How can he make sure that after his departure they might be able at any time to recall these things, brother. How can a dead person ensure about the future? How can I know what is going to happen with my kids after I die?

First, I don't know. Nobody can have any level of certainty about what is going to happen to someone after their death, right, brother? So he continues, for we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For when he received honor and glory from God the Father and the voice was born to him by the majestic glory, this is my beloved son with whom I am well pleased. We, who's the we brethren?

The apostles, we ourselves heard this very voice born from heaven, for we were with him on the holy mountain." Right? The apostles. And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention to as a lamp shining in a dark place until the day dawns and the morning star arises in your hearts, knowing this first of all. that no prophecy of a scripture comes from someone's own interpretation, for no prophecy has ever produced by the will of men, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

He's going to leave, and now he knows that the prophetic promise that was given to the apostles was going to be left only in the writings. How do I know that? Go to chapter 3. In chapter 3 now we see the only instance in which the oral tradition of the apostles are considered to be servants or subservient to the writings of the apostles. Pay attention to chapter 3 verse 1.

This is now the second letter that I am writing to you. Brethren, pay attention to that. Peter says, this is now the second letter that I am writing to you, beloved. In both of them, I'm stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder. Pay attention to the purpose of these two letters, that you should remember the words.

the oracles, the predictions of the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles. Did you pay attention to that? Verse two. What is the purpose of those two letters that this apostle who is about to die has written? The purpose is that you should remember that you should remember the words of the holy apostles and the prophets.

The reason why me, Peter, who is about to die, who desire to make sure that after I die that you will remember all the teachings, the reason why I'm writing this is that you will remember. I'm not trusting my words passed on to my disciples. I'm not trusting my words passed on to you, church, I love you, brothers and sisters," he would have said, but I know that you're going to mess up. I know that there's going to be sin among you. I know that you're going to deviate even from the truth when I give it to you in writing.

I'm not going to trust your ability to remember. I'm not going to trust your ability to discern. I'm not going to trust your morals and your heart to keep the teachings of the apostles, to fight against false teachers. I'm making the effort to write these letters so that you may remember the predictions, the oracles of the holy prophets of the New Testament, and the holy apostles. Because the only way that these truths of God will pass on to different generations is if you have it in writing.

He's now recognizing that these are scriptures, and if you remember in the end of chapter 3, he will also recognize that the writings of the apostle Paul were scriptures, things that are difficult to understand. Brethren, why am I making all of these things here in front of you? Because of this. Because the words of the apostles that were available to the early church through the preaching of the apostles, going from one place to another, and the apostles traveling around, are available to us now only in the holy scriptures. Both the traditions of the apostles and the oracles of the apostles died when the apostles died.

The only thing that make it in time or through time was the writings of the apostles. And the church only serves as the one that recognizes what was given by the apostles, but the scriptures, because of the word of God, are the ones that always have preeminence over the church and over the traditions of the church and even over the oracles of the church. It is only the scriptures. So I have run out of time and I haven't said what I wanted to say, but I will just simply finish with this, and we will continue it next week by God's grace. What we have in our hands is a treasure of which we don't fully comprehend its value.

The words that are contained here, we don't fully comprehend the blood that was shed, not only from our savior, but even the apostles and the people who preserved this book so that we will have it in our hands. We don't fully comprehend the amount of suffering throughout the ages so that we comfortable people of 2024 will have in our hands this book. And this book happens to be the standard by which we discern the proclaimers of error that comes from Satan, and the proclaimers of truth that comes from the kingdom of God. And the difficult thing about that is that the promise of the scripture is that many will follow their ways. Brethren, don't you feel it inside of you?

Many will follow their ways. People that want to take advantage of people because of their money. People that want to take advantage because they want to feel themselves to be powerful, heard, and followed. People that just simply want to build for themselves an empire where they have lots of followers and they are the ones that are the gods of their own empires. Trying to deceive souls by saying things that people, you know what, sadly, and this I'm going to say it with much fear, they deserve what they have.

And you know why they deserve what they have? Because they have chosen the man or the woman that speaks from the pulpit instead of the God of the Scriptures. And if a person does not come to the Word, which is the Word of the Lord, then that person is going to be simply seeking through his or her itching ears that someone will speak to them according to what they want because they are following their own passions. The church is only protected from false teachers and false prophets when each one of the members of the church has the word of God written in their hearts. In other words, when we have communion with the apostles and the prophets, when we have fellowship with John, when we have fellowship with Paul, when we have fellowship with Peter, when we get to know the way that they write, when we get to know the way that they put things together, because it is the word of the Lord, my dear brother and sister.

The Spirit of God will testify to our spirits that we are children of God, but He will do it in alignment with the revelation of Jesus Christ according to the gospel. Because I don't know if you've heard, if I've read, I'm pretty sure that you have, 2 Corinthians chapter 11 verse 4, it speaks about other Jesus. It speaks about another gospel. It speaks about another spirit. And the apostle says, and you're so quick to believe those who come to you with another Jesus, with another gospel, with another message.

You're so quick, it says to the Corinthians. You're so quick to be easily deceived, like Eve in the garden was deceived. You're so easily leaned to go with those things. Brethren, because we are to be aware, not only of the importance of the book, but also brethren, what it is in our hearts. Because the one that sustains us is not our own intellect.

The one that sustains us is not the many years of religion that we have lived up to this point. What sustains us is not the information, theological information that we have. What sustains us is not the quality of the things that we understand, and how many times I have read the Bible. What sustains us is purely the grace of the Lord, that the one that is in us is greater than the one that is in the world. And that's why the church is to be focused on the word of God that points us to Jesus Christ.

Otherwise, we will be slaves of our own imaginations, or we will end up being slaves of someone else's imaginations, brethren. And both of those two possibilities end up and end up in a really terrible outcome.